


Anywhere

by boxofwonder



Category: Persona 5
Genre: AU without powers, And a road trip on the horizon, Electric first meeting, F/F, Makoto to the rescue!, Slightly irresponsible motorcycling practices
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2017-08-03
Packaged: 2018-12-10 15:02:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11694150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boxofwonder/pseuds/boxofwonder
Summary: Two chained girls meet by chance, and the breathless spark between them may just be enough to set them free.





	Anywhere

**Author's Note:**

> This story means a lot to me, and it feels really, really nice to get it out here ♡

Makoto tore the helmet off her head and realised she had no idea where she was.

The cool night air drifted through her sweaty hair, and she dragged the tie out to shake it out, catching her breath. Every gulp of unknown air around eased the coil of anxiety that sat tight under her skin, shackles crafted and weighed for so long, she could not remember a time she had not bore them.

Makoto shook her head, lips pursing in frustration at the heavy, hot coil of hair falling past her shoulder blades.

The night was quiet, and she wanted to sear off her hair, to get back on her bike and to ride and ride and ride and ride until no street looked the same, until she didn’t feel trapped anymore. Trapped behind glass, a passive player watching her life drift by, the world around tinted in gray, gray, gray.

But she was good, and obedient, and reliable.

Makoto knew already that she would ride a little longer, as always, pretending she wouldn’t turn around. And then, of course, she would. Put out a suit for tomorrow morning, take a shower, lie down in her bed and listen to the symphony of quiet, backdrop to her wandering thoughts.

She roughly ran a hand through her hair, yanking at it. Damn it all. Why even pretend? If she turned now, at least she could get ahead of her paperwork.

In her mind, Makoto was already planning the next week, seething quietly about how routinely she fell into it. And then, a shout punctured the silence.

“I said stop!”

It was a female voice, sharp and jagged with desperation. Makoto felt a thrill run through her. There was a second, male voice, more quiet. She could be wrong.

But if she was right -

Her feet began to carry her in that direction, one hesitating step, a second with more momentum, and then she broke into a sprint as the girl cried out again, and again -

Makoto skidded across the corner. She took the scene in as she ran - a man crowding a woman against a wall, grabbing her wrist as she struggled against him. That was all Makoto needed to know. “Let go of her!” she bellowed, her voice booming so loudly it took that bastard completely aback.

He froze, scoffing as he took in the way she came at him. He let go of the woman and faced her, both hands raising to attack her. What an obvious fighting style.

“Catch!” Makoto called, tossing her helmet at the woman staring at her with wide, bright eyes. Her hands closed around it, held onto it, and Makoto concentrated on that bastard with a small smile on her face.

She couldn't wait to knock the breath out of this despicable excuse of a human.

“Go home, missy,” he drawled. “This has nothing to do with you. It’s just a spat between lovers.”

His voice alone creeped down Makoto’s spine, making her shiver with disgust. “Come at me,” she hissed. “I’ll make you regret ever laying hands on her.”

He swung so obviously, it was laughable. Makoto met him with one hand beneath his chin, forcing his head to tilt, twisting his wrist with her other hand to toss the bastard behind her, knocking him on his back with a satisfying thump.

Makoto rushed past him, offering her hand to the stranger. “Come,” she said, urgent. Effective self-defense was not about fighting to the end - it was about getting out of the situation. Especially with others ivolved. “We have to go, _now._ ”

She was worried that the girl might not follow, but instead she took Makoto aback with the strength of her grip. Makoto squeezed her hand and turned, sprinting past the coughing bastard pushing himself up. His voice echoed after them, but Makoto did not care.

Her bike was waiting for them. He’d never catch up.

Makoto came to a screeching halt in front of Johanna, looking sideways at the girl. She was still quiet, shellshocked.

“Put on the helmet,” Makoto said. “We have to go. Have you ridden a motorcycle before?”

“I -” The stranger shook her head, and up close, Makoto could not help but notice all the more how _bright_ her eyes seemed. Shining with light, despite it all. Or maybe because of the adrenaline rush.

Makoto herself felt feverish.

“Just hold onto me. Try to lean with me in the curves. And put on the helmet.”

She was quiet, that one. It was probably the shock. “You’re safe now,” Makoto said, warmly. “Nothing will happen to you any longer.”

Her stranger ducked her head, and fumbled until she had secured the helmet in place over her fluffy hair. The very tips of the curls were still poking out.

Makoto had no idea why that little detail stuck with her so much as she climbed on the seat, as the stranger settled behind her.

Her hands rested shyly on Makoto’s hips, and she nonchalantly reached behind her to wrap the stranger’s arms around her waist. Behind them, the bastard’s voice grew louder, and she felt the grip of the girl tense on her waist.

She clung to Makoto with all her might, a strength that took Makoto's breath away. Good.

Makoto kickstarted the engine, relishing in the howl of it, a sound that yanked at her very core, drowned out the useless shouts behind them. A sound so loud it was the only thing that mattered, every time anew.

Alive. She felt alive, as the wind whipped at her hair, hit her face without anything in between. It was dangerous, and stupid, and exhilarating. She'd never ridden without a helmet before, had never known how much it'd take her breath away.

Faster, faster. They gained speed and Makoto could still feel the girl’s grip on her, a strength to it that made Makoto’s breath run short as much as the unforgiving night air slamming against her.

Faster, faster, and faster still. The streets were quiet, almost empty. Makoto did not know where she was headed, only that it wasn’t home, far from it. And every exhilarating inch they left behind them made her feel wilder, someone foreign in her own skin. She wished she could let it grow, burst from that cemented shell, leaving the splinters and debris behind her, whipped away by the wind.

The grip of the stranger around her waist tightened, a friction, and with sudden clarity Makoto realised that she was a mad woman rushing through the night with someone else clinging onto her, helpless to where she would be taken.

That did not make Makoto an ounce better than that man from before, and she felt guilt choke the adrenaline back down, throttling the engine and slowing down as gently as possible. For all she knew, that girl clung to her, utterly terrified by the speed with which she was being taken gods knew to where. This was like a kidnapping. How could she have been so thoughtless?

Makoto grit her teeth in frustration with herself, pulling over at the next opportunity. Her knees were trembling when her feet touched ground again, and she balled her hands to fists so they wouldn’t shake. Makoto felt like she had abruptly sobered from being drunk, an experience she had suffered only once, and never again.

There were a million apologies ready to burst from her, so many words that they became a jumbled mess as she turned to face the girl following her.

But when the stranger pulled the helmet off and her hair bounced free, when she looked up at Makoto with her flushed cheeks, the haywire energy in her eyes struck Makoto like lightning.

Her mouth fell open, with no sound escaping. Makoto could do nothing but stare at the stranger. Such a wild, ferocious beauty, contained entirely in her eyes. A starved soul in a polished vessel, straining to break free, the taste of adrenaline awakening nothing but hunger for more.

With a sudden, aching pang of her heart, Makoto felt like this woman could understand her, better than anyone in her life, in ways not even Makoto could grasp entirely.

And still there was a chasm between them, a distance impossible to bridge.

They were just two strangers. Makoto knew the rules of this encounter, and she was already following them, her mouth finally finding all the words that echoed hollow. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking to stop and ask where I should bring you -”

She trailed off, a horrible, sinking feeling in her stomach as she watched that bright light in the stranger’s eyes flicker and diminish, bit by bit, as they both backed away from the edges they had dangled their legs from.

They were merely two strangers, and Makoto may have just lost her heart, but such foolish notions held no real value beyond this split-second of breathless meeting.

“It is quite alright,” he stranger said, her voice clear and gentle. The quiet around them revealed that what Makoto had mistaken for fear before was truly a sense of calm the stranger carried herself with. As if the world could toss her anything, and she would stand, unwavering, to bear it.

“Thank you for saving me. I -” She bit her lip, averted her gaze. Stood quiet, for a heartbeat, two. “It does not matter now. Thank you.”

Makoto wanted to grasp her shoulders and tell her that it did. That she’d give anything to know why on earth, and from what Makoto had saved her. But she stood in place, quiet. Watching life drift past her, as always.

Makoto suddenly felt weary.

“I … may I ask for your name?” her stranger asked.

That made her smile. At least this much. “Nijima Makoto, at your service.”

The answering smile she got made her feel important, seen. “I see. I am … Haru.” Something weighed down her smile, but did not make it waver. “Haru will do.”

Haru. Makoto did not care for what Haru preferred not to speak of, because having a name to call her by was more than enough. “Then so will Makoto.”

Haru’s smile was serene. “Then thank you very much, Makoto.”

It took Makoto off guard just how beautiful her own name could sound, spoken with such warmth. She shifted on her feet, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. Oh … she knew the signs of that. Heh.

So Makoto was still capable of being a little foolish after all. “I’m sorry if I scared you, riding like that … I wasn’t thinking at all. So, properly now: where shall I take you? I’ll see you home safely.”

It was as if the last wild light dulled entirely, and Haru deflated. Her grip on the helmet tightened, just a smidge. Her smile did not seem quite as radiant anymore. “It’s quite alright … I can just call a cab.”

Makoto shook her head. “No, no. I carried you out this far, of course I’ll want to see you home safe. Please, allow me?”

“I don’t want to be a bother. It was my fault that you had to -” Haru cut off when Makoto took an urgent half-step forward.

“None of that was your fault.” How could Haru think that? “And I am grateful I could help. So, please. I will not be able to rest tonight if I don’t know you safe in your own home.” The moment she said it, a horrible thought occurred to her - pieces falling together to a picture Makoto loathed to see. ‘A lover’s quarrel’, he had said.

Who knew how safe Haru was at home? Makoto’s gaze flitted over her in a new way now, as if she could see signs of it on her. But Haru was covered neck to the tip of her fingers in the fluffiest coat Makoto had ever seen.

And she rose with stubborn pride beneath Makoto’s gaze, a sharp reprimand in her eyes that made Makoto flush with shame. That was right. She had no place to pry, or even assume. How dare she?

It was not even her place to know about Haru. They had only just met, by chance and nothing else. But, still, she -

“Please let me take you home? I would rest more reassured.”

Haru tilted her head, her voice perfectly innocent, but her eyes glinting. “Then I shall allow it.”

Makoto couldn’t quell her stupid little grin to that.

It stubbornly clung to her lips as they settled back on her bike, as Haru’s arms wrapped around her, grip still as tight. Not fear at all.

Her grin stayed as the engine howled and the wind tugged at her again, as she hit and missed the right turns, finding her way to where Haru had asked her to bring her.

It stayed until Haru handed her the helmet back.

And even when _she_ was smiling still, it seemed void to Makoto.

A studied mask and nothing like what she had seen before.

She’d already lost that Haru from before in a prison of her own making, and wasn’t it the same for Makoto?

“Mako- Makoto.” Haru’s smile widened, but if anything, Makoto’s heart ached because Haru looked so much as if she wanted to cry rather than smile. “Thank you for coming to my aid tonight. I will forever be grateful to you. Please be careful on your way home, alright?”

Makoto smiled back, the same tight, fake smile. “I always am. … usually, at least. You are certain you don’t want me to walk you to your doorstep?”

“Such chivalry. I feared such a virtue was lost on the world.” Haru reached up, but her hand sank back to her side before Makoto could find out what she had been about to do. “Thank you for reminding me there is good in this world, too.”

Too much. That was way too much. “I merely did the right thing. Anyone would have.”

“I am glad it wasn’t anyone.” Haru’s smile seemed realer now. Its beauty unrivalled again. “Good night, Makoto.”

There were so many things Makoto wanted to say. So many questions she wanted to ask. “Good night, Haru.”

But Makoto didn’t. She hadn’t. And so Haru inclined her head one last time and then turned, without looking back. Makoto wanted to yank herself away from the sight, but she had vowed to watch her for as long as she could, even when she was choking on unsaid words as she did so.

The chasm between them was unbreachable. Or perhaps she was just too much of a coward to take the leap.

Makoto opened her mouth the moment Haru faltered in her steps, and it threw her off balance, made her words die again.

Only when Haru’s shoulders fell and she kept walking did the word finally fall from Makoto’s lips: “Wait!” she called, loud enough for it to carry bright and clear to the woman across from her.

Haru turned, her face open and hopeful. “Yes?”

It was something in her expression that made Makoto not regret it, even when she had nothing to say. Nothing at all. “I … I don’t know.” She rubbed at her eyes. What was she doing?

Haru took two steps closer again. Why was this even working? Makoto was acting like a bumbling fool.

“You don’t want to see me leave yet?” Haru asked, her voice shivering with hope.

Makoto ducked her head. “... yes.”

Another two steps closer. “What would we do, Makoto?”

“I -” What would they do? Ride until dawn and return home, completely tired and reeking, showing up to the appointments they had to keep completely wrecked? Would that even be remotely satisfying? “Nothing. Sorry. This is stupid.” What had she been thinking?

But Haru took three long strides, and her fingers curled around Makoto's wrist. The pads of her fingers against Makoto’s pulse was a more intimate touch than anything Makoto could recall of the last … years. It made her heart stumble a harsh beat. “Where would we go, Mako-chan?” Haru asked, every word punctured with quiet intensity.

How could Makoto have assumed that Haru was scared, or meek? She was the braver one between the two of them. She had taken the leap, after all, bridged the distance and come to meet her.

“Anywhere,” she replied, staring at Haru with wide eyes. The truth of her words scared and exhilarated her. She would have taken Haru anywhere she asked her to. She laughed, breathless. How foolish! “Anywhere, Haru.”

Haru smiled, brilliant again. Finally. “Then, please. Take me with you.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I! Have! A lot of plans and ideas how this might pan out! (Involving haircuts, beaches, tattoos, and other fun stuff.)
> 
> Not sure I trust motivation/inspiration to work together well enough to ride that tandem to mutlichapter work city, but!  
> Tell me if you'd like to see more, and we may see how it works out (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و ̑̑


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